Surviving the Fog (28 page)

"Lean on me," she said.

"Alright."  He leaned on Lily, and they
made their way over the bridge.

"They have cake in the dining hall," she
said.

His eyes lit with pleasure.  "Cake?"

"Yes.  I missed you," she dared to
say.

"I missed you," he acknowledged, as he and
Lily entered the dining hall where they were allowed to cut the
line that had formed to receive a piece of cake.

After the party, Jean was tired and needed to
rest.  She and Howard walked back to the Lodge in the growing
darkness.  Suddenly she stopped.

"Holy, smoke," she exclaimed.  "A
fireplace."

In place of the wooden wall on the east end
was a stone fireplace.  Smoke was curling out of the chimney.
 "That is so cool.  Does it work?"

"Of course it works," said Kathy, who was
following close behind the couple.  "Hector built it."

"I was only asking, because I thought that
maybe you built it," explained Jean.

"You are so funny, old lady," Kathy
replied.

"Just kidding, kid.  No, really, it's
great.  Too bad, Desi and John got the room next to it.”

Meanwhile in the dining hall, Star went
running up to her mother.  "Can I sleep in the Lodge with
Kylie, and Paige, and Gabby, please?  They're going to have a
slumber party by the fireplace."

Mary was noncommittal.  "Uncle Mike is
going to let us stay in Chief's Headquarters tonight.  You are
still a little young to be sleeping with the big girls," she
responded.

"Please, please?" Star begged.

"Go, ask Ralph," was Mary's dithering answer.
 At that moment Ralph appeared, having coaxed the kitchen
staff out of a second piece of cake.

"What's up?" he asked, as he use his fingers
to pick up the dessert.

"Dad, can I go to a slumber party tonight
with Kylie, Paige, and Gabby?" Star asked.

"Sure, why not," replied Ralph.

"Yaaaay!  Thanks, Dad," said Star, and
she gave him a hug.  Then she ran off to find her friends, so
she could tell them the good news.

Mary gave Ralph a critical look.  "She
always calls you, Dad, when she wants something," she said.
 "Sooner or later, you’ll have to put your foot down and say,
'no’."

"Yeah, I know," Ralph admitted.

That night, the four girls lay on mattresses
by the fireplace, giggling, chatting, and generally just enjoying a
girlish night.  The only person close to them was an older
girl, who was sitting on one of the bus seats that had been placed
in the open area of the Lodge.  At one point, some boys with
mischief on their minds approached.

Suddenly the older girl stood.

"Can I help you?" she asked in a sweet but
goose bump raising tone.

Her face could hardly be seen by the light of
the flickering fire behind her.  Her yellow eyes seemed to
gleam with wicked intent.  She appeared to appraise them as if
she wondered how long they would take to bake.  There was an
aura of danger about her.

"N..n..no," the leader stammered, and they
fled to the safety of their small grotto.

Satisfied, the young woman sat down and
glanced at the four younger girls, who had not been disturbed.

In the safety of their cave, the boys
shuddered.

"Did you ever notice how much Desi looks like
a witch?" a young man asked.

"Don't ever say that to John," Tyler warned
him.

Chapter Eleven Rescue

The next morning, Jean and Jacob told their
story at the Council meeting.

Jean began.  "We hustled our butts, and
we made it to the Retreat in thirteen days.  It took Jacob one
day to find a sheep, kill it, prepare it, and hang it where they
would see it from their front door.  So we were actually
finished with the mission in about two weeks.  That got us
thinking.  Maybe we should scout around for a week, and then
head back. "We found the road leading away from the Retreat, and it
seemed to be heading southeast, so we took that road.  About
five hundred feet below the Retreat, we found a sheep barn.  I
never saw it the first time that I was there.  There’s a lot
of pasture close by and a lot more sheep.  I guess those at
the retreat just wandered up there, but it looks like the sheep
barn belonged to the owners of the Retreat."

"I thought that the road down the mountain
might lead to another road running east and west," Jacob added. "I
thought it might lead back to our area.  I remembered that the
firebreak road to Mrs. Brown's farm turned east beyond the farm.
 I thought that we might find that road."

Jean continued.  "We went southeast
along the road for another two days, and then the road forked.
 We debated about which fork to take, and since we hadn't seen
evidence that either one was a road leading back to our neck of the
woods, we decided we would take the east fork.  We thought we
would hike along that road for a day or two and then backtrack.
 You did say that you wouldn't be worried until six weeks had
passed, right, Chief," she said, looking hopefully at Mike.

"True," said Mike. "Although I don't remember
telling you that you could take off by yourselves.  Howard, do
you remember me saying that Jean and Jacob could go hiking off by
themselves into the wilderness, if they completed their mission
faster than we expected them to?"

"Don't get me started, Chief," Howard
growled.

Hastily, Jean continued.  "Yeah, well,
we hiked two more days, and then things got interesting."

"At the end of the second day, we found the
remains of two bodies," said Jacob.  "They had been shot.
 There were two motorcycles nearby.  They were the same
kind of bikes that we have.  We found a jacket next to one of
the bodies.  It had a patch on it.  Remember those guys
we killed?  Remember their jackets?  The jackets from
these bodies had the same patch."

"Oh, shit," Yuie said "Our bad guys and these
dead guys were from the same group?"

"You sure about that, Jacob?" Mike asked
grimly.

"I'm not a hundred percent sure," Jacob
answered.  "But it’s a good bet.”

Jean continued the tale.  “Anyway, the
next day, we found a dirt track leading up a hill.  It was
rough, but we could tell that motorcycles had been on it, and we
thought we could see car tire marks, so we followed the track.
 It went up the hill, then it turned east and went around the
hill and veered to the north.  At the end of that track we
found them.  We found the bikers' camp."

"I don't believe this," Mike said.
 "What the hell were you thinking, Jacob?"

"I asked myself, ‘where were they taking
Jackie and Maria’?" Jacob replied.

"What?" Mike said.

"Where were they taking Jackie and Maria?
 That guy killed Jackie, and he said that he was going to kill
Maria, but what if he hadn’t?  They couldn't have been living
at the place where we killed them.  There weren't enough
supplies.  So, where was their real place?  Who else did
they have?  I know now.  They have a bunch of kids at
their camp."

"Dammit," John exclaimed angrily.

"No, oh, no," moaned Desi.

"I snuck up close,” said Jacob. “First I came
across a gully.  I found about twelve bodies.  Three
little ones.”

“Son of a bitch,” said Howard vehemently.

Yuie sniffed, and then a sob escaped her
lips.  Mike felt sick to his stomach.

"I got closer to their camp.  They were
living in a big dugout, and they have it covered with all kinds of
stuff.  At night, they keep the kids in an RV with the door
chained.  I saw three cars, two pickups with camper shells,
and two RV's.  They hunt.  I saw a lot of deer bones.

"I circled their camp.  From the south
side, I could see a road down below.  I think that’s the road
I was looking for.  It runs northeast and southwest.  On
the east side of their camp, there’s a paved road leading down to
the other road.  I think after the fog came, after those guys
realized what happened, they were watching the road for traffic.
 When they spotted someone, they went down and attacked."

"Bandits," Mike murmured.

"Yes," said Jacob.

"We saw ten kids," Jean added.  "They
ranged in age from about six to sixteen.  Seven girls and
three boys.  We saw six bikers.  They were all wearing
the same jackets."

"I didn't know what to do." Jacob shook his
head.  "I thought about making contact with the kids.
 They let them run around free during the day.  They put
them in the RV at night.  We didn't have enough food for them.
 I couldn't bring them with us.  I decided to come back
and report."

"So we hiked to the paved road, and we made
our way down," said Jean.   "We came to the road running
northeast and southwest.  And that's when we found a campsite.
 It was not fresh, but it wasn’t old either.  We found
some empty food cans.  The markings on the cans said,
'Property of the United States Army’."

She stopped.  There was astonishment on
the faces of the Council.

"Wait, no.  Are you telling us that the
US Army is up here with us?" John asked.

"Yes," said Jacob.  He looked at Mike.
"Chief, I honestly didn't know what you would do.  I knew I
needed to get back and report.  But, I didn't know how badly
we needed information about the Army.  Jean thought we should
turn back.  But I decided to try and find them.  It's was
my decision, so you should blame me.  It took us a week of
hiking, but we found their post.  To the northeast.  They
built an old fashioned fort, and they surrounded it with a
palisade."

"A what?" Yuie asked.

"A palisade,” John explained. “A wall of
timbers.  You know.  Like you see in the old west
movies.”

"There was a sign,” said Jean. “It's a unit
of the United States Army Corp of Engineers.  But we could
tell that there are regular soldiers with them.  We don't know
why, and we didn't try to find out.  And there’s civilians
there, too.  We saw a guy with some kids playing outside the
walls.  When it got dark, the guards yelled at the guy to get
his ass into the fort.”

"We didn't make contact,” Jacob said. “The
morning after we found them, we turned around and high-tailed our
butts back here.  It took us almost four weeks, but that's
only because I twisted my ankle.  We could have made it in
three weeks or less, otherwise.”

"Man, were we glad to find out we were on the
right road,” Jean said, as she finished their report. “We saw the
farm.  Jacob knew right away that it was the Davis Brown Farm.
 He knew we were okay.  That Ralph is a good guy.
 He and his lady took care of us."

The Council was silent.  "We need to
think about what this means to us," said Mike.  "Jacob and
Jean will tell their story tonight at Meeting.  Everyone will
be invited to express their opinion."

There were a few more items to discuss not
related to Jacob and Jean’s trip.  Hector waited when the
others left.

"Yes?" Mike asked politely.

"I know what you are thinking, amigo," Hector
said with a serious look at Mike.

"Um...”

"You are thinking that we have to rescue
those children," Hector stated.  Mike was silent.

"I understand how you feel.  I do.
 We have guns.  We can try to rescue them.  But
remember.  Some of our people might get shot.  If they
get shot, they will die.  There are no hospitals here.
 Please, remember that, Chief.”  Hector was finished
speaking.  He left the cabin, as Mike pondered his words.

It was a silent tribe that faced Mike that
evening.  By then, everyone had heard the news of the two
diverse camps.  The information about the bikers was
worrisome, but the news of a United States Army unit above the Fog
was the talk of the tribe.

"All right, you have all heard about the army
guys," said Mike.  "So here is what we are going to do.
 Everyone is going to have a chance to speak.  We'll talk
for two hours tonight.  Then we'll stop.  I want you to
think about what you hear tonight.  Talk to other people about
it.  Then, tomorrow night, we’ll all get a chance to speak
again.  See if any minds are changed.”

The discussion quickly turned into
arguments.

"We should contact them immediately.
 They’re the US Army.  They're supposed to help us."

"We shouldn't have anything to do with them.
 They’re the Army.  They might be responsible for the
Fog."

"They are too far away to help us, anyway.
 We have to depend on ourselves."

"How do we know they really are the Army?
 What if they just stole the uniforms?"

"How will they treat us?"

Mike let them go on and on.  He did not
try to stop anyone from speaking of their hopes or their fears, no
matter how silly the conversation became, sometimes.  When the
arguments tapered off, he closed the meeting.  The tribe went
to their beds.  But once they were in their bunks, many spoke
with their bunkmates far into the night.

The next day, the arguments continued.
 Mike asked Ralph and Mary to stay an extra day, so their
voices could be heard.  Ralph and Mary agreed to stay, for
they were just as concerned.  The only ones not concerned were
Star and Comet.  Star was enjoying being with the older girls.
 Comet coaxed his dad into letting him go hiking with Nathan
and Kevin.

The feelings of the Council were mixed.
 Yuie furiously argued against making contact with the Army.
 Erin thought they should.  Kathy worried that Hector
would be taken into custody as an illegal alien.  Ahmad
worried that his religion would be held against him.  Jean
pointed out that the Army might have a doctor with them, and they
might need the services of a doctor.  They discussed the kids
at the bikers' camp, but they were similarly divided.  Night
came.  Once again, everyone had their say.  Mike asked
Ralph and Mary for their opinion.  There was no consensus.

And then, at some point, John asked Mike what
he thought.  That’s when the tribe realized that Mike had not
given them a hint as to what he thought.  People began to
demand that Mike make his feelings known.